Retina Display MacBook Pro

That's what I thought, but I figured I should verify the usage (of the term) first. Reason being, I haven't heard that term used in many years. I thought standalone RIPs were pretty much obsolete now, since most modern printers have plenty of processing power onboard. Usually people refer to this as the print driver. I think there are few companies that sell software to compliment the printing process, but they aren't really RIPs per say. Also, can't one just compose printer output using LR4 or PS6, InDesign, Illustrator etc.?

Tom_N
wrote:

Maxseven
wrote:

What's a "RIP?"

Acronym for "raster image processor". Something like a PostScript file is much higher-level than the sort of instructions or data ("lay down black for this pixel; don't lay down black for this pixel") that would be convenient for actually controlling printer hardware in real time. The job of a RIP is to translate the high-level print data into the low-level form.

A RIP may be located either in the printer (if it has a beefy enough CPU and enough RAM) or in the computer (which might allow saving money on the printer). Usually when I've come across the term RIP it has been in reference to software versions. (When a PostScript printer has an internal RIP, few people think about the RIP part as such; they just refer to the entire device as a PostScript printer.)